In which of the following cases did the Supreme Court of India declare the prevalence of Fundamental Rights over Directive Principles of the State Policy in case of conflict between the two?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — B, The State of Madras v. Champakam Dorairajan (1951). This was the first major Supreme Court case on the relationship between the two parts of the Constitution: the Court struck down a caste-based reservation order in college admissions and held that Directive Principles must conform to and run subsidiary to Fundamental Rights — Fundamental Rights prevail wherever the two conflict. The judgment prompted Parliament to enact the First Constitutional Amendment (1951), inserting Article 15(4) to permit reservations for socially and educationally backward classes.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) This case held that Parliament has no power under Article 368 to abridge or take away Fundamental Rights by ordinary constitutional amendment — it is about the amendability of Fundamental Rights, not about resolving a conflict between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles.  (c) This case propounded the 'basic structure' doctrine — that Parliament can amend Fundamental Rights but not the Constitution's basic structure — and partly overruled Golaknath; it is not the case that first declared Fundamental Rights prevail over Directive Principles.  (d) This later case struck down the 42nd Amendment's attempt to give Directive Principles overriding effect over Fundamental Rights (via Article 31C) and restored balance between the two — it responds to a subsequent controversy, not the original 1951 declaration.

Concept: The Constitution places Fundamental Rights (Part III, justiciable) and Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV, non-justiciable) side by side, and their relationship — which prevails when they conflict — has been shaped by a sequence of Supreme Court judgments rather than a single constitutional clause.

State PCS 2024 Q11 — Indian Polity PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2024 Q11 — Indian Polity PYQ with Answer